Gary Sanchez and Aaron Judge already were years into their Yankees minor league apprenticeships when Robinson Cano departed, took the money from Seattle that was not being offered in New York.

But there were three homegrown Yankees position players in the same AL All-Star uniforms the past few days — Sanchez knocking out defending Home Run Derby champ Giancarlo Stanton on Monday, Judge winning the event in overpowering style and then Cano taking MVP honors in Tuesday’s game.

Cano’s 10th-inning homer off Wade Davis provided a 2-1 triumph and further credentials to Cano’s Hall of Fame candidacy and his argument for moving up the all-time second base list. At this point, I think the only second basemen clearly ahead of Cano are Rogers Hornsby, Nap Lajoie and Joe Morgan.

Jackie Robinson — for whom Cano gets his first name — is a more important historical baseball figure (and just historical figure, period), but due to his late entry to the majors, his major league career might fall short of Cano’s.

Rod Carew is a player Cano is most often compared to — think: sweet lefty stroke. But Cano has Carew beat on power, defense and just playing his whole career (to date) at second. Carew actually played more games at first base than at second.

Roberto Alomar joins Morgan as the best all-around second baseman I have seen. But Alomar’s last good season came at age 33. Then he went to the Mets and fell apart. Cano’s All-Star Game MVP comes at 34. Craig Biggio and Ryne Sandberg, to me, were a grade down from Alomar and Morgan, and I believe Cano, as well.

Chase UtleyAP

Eddie Collins accumulated more than 3,300 hits, and Jose Altuve might get there at some point. Dustin Pedroia has won an MVP during Cano’s career, and Chase Utley just might be my pick if I could take any second baseman in his prime to win one game. But I believe Cano’s consistency/durability/greatness ranks him above those second basemen, and Charlie Gehringer, too.

Cano has finished in the MVP top eight in six of the past seven seasons. He has played at least 157 games in each of the past 10 (he went on the DL this year for the first time since 2006). Only Jeff Kent has more homers as a second baseman than Cano’s 295. Cano’s 2,297 hits put him within range to finish in the top 30 all time from any position through an age-34 season and in range of 3,000 for a career.

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We will see where he goes from here. Second basemen historically have not aged great. Collins, Kent and Lou Whitaker are among the rarities who sustained excellence from 34 onward.

This will be particularly interesting to monitor from a Yankees perspective. Cano left because the Yankees would not bestow a 10-year contract after the 2013 season. They offered seven years at $175 million, but seemed content to lose the bidding to the Mariners (10 years, $240 million). The Yankees were concerned about how Cano would age, seeing a thick bottom half, worried that the fans did not connect with a player who seemed often to play in a lower gear.

But in the world of guilt by association — fair or not — the Yankees also fretted that Cano’s two best friends while with the Yankees, Melky Cabrera and Alex Rodriguez, had received suspensions due to ties to Biogenesis.

There are still 6 1/2 seasons left on that contract, a long way to go to validate the Yankees’ concerns about going long with Cano. But there is no doubt that, so far, the Yankees have lost the bet to redirect that money to Jacoby Ellsbury and Brian McCann, in particular. Those two players received deals totaling $238 million — over seven and five years, respectively. Cano said he would stay for $235 million and signed for 10 years at $240 million with the Mariners.

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In his 3 1/2 Mariners seasons, Cano has an OPS 30 percent over the league average (factoring in ballpark). He was 27 percent over as a Yankee. Neither McCann nor Ellsbury (especially) has been what the Yankees hoped. The Yankees divested themselves of McCann last offseason and received two prospects, but had to eat $11 million in 2017-18 to make it happen.

Ellsbury is owed $68.5 million from 2018-20, and if the Yankees are unable to sink below the $197 million luxury-tax threshold next year — a major goal of the organization — having Ellsbury on the payroll would be a significant factor.

In the aftermath of Cano, Brian Roberts and then Stephen Drew were the primary Yankees second basemen. Starlin Castro came last year and actually was tabbed an All-Star this season, but was unable to play and replaced on the roster by, yep, Cano, who became an All-Star for the eighth time. In the coming years, it is possible the roster turnover will lead to Gleyber Torres or Tyler Wade or Jorge Mateo becoming the regular second baseman.

But wouldn’t it be intriguing right now to see, say, a daily Yankees 2-3-4 of Judge, Cano and Sanchez?